Gilbert Brule was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft after Sidney Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Jack Johnson, Benoit Pouliot, and Carey Price. Unfortunately, unlike the five that were taken before him and many selected after him, Brule’s hockey career appears to be over.

Brule has 95 points and 156 penalty minutes in 299 career NHL games, but he’s struggled to find his place in the NHL lately. He’s only played in three contests with the Phoenix Coyotes this season and when they attempted to send him back to AHL Portland where he has 12 points in 11 contests, he refused to go.

The Coyotes suspended him as a result, but rather than ask to get out of his contract so that he can continue his career in Europe, it sounds like Brule is simply done.

“He decided that he didn’t want to live out of a suitcase anymore, was sick of living at hotels, and told me he was going to quit hockey – maybe become a firefighter,” Coyotes GM Don Maloney told the Arizona Republic.

“So what we do procedurally is we suspended him and unless he has a change of heart very, very quickly, we’ll go through the procedure of terminating his contract.”

Brule was reportedly on the brink of heading to the KHL before ultimately signing a two-way contract with Phoenix.